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December 11, 2009
So much to see and do
A trip to see Jewish London is simply "brilliant."
TOVA KORNFELD
The travel itinerary looked fantastic: eight West End shows, six museums/art galleries, three castle tours, two walking tours, plenty of leisure time and Yom Kippur in London. What more could one ask for?
London, with its population of seven million, is an exciting, vibrant city, always on the go. Three hundred thousand Jews live in England, with about two thirds of them in London.
Jews first came to Britain in 1066 with William the Conqueror. Excluded from the guilds, they became merchants and bankers until they were expelled from the country in 1290 by Edward I. Jews did not officially return until they were invited back in 1655 by Oliver Cromwell. Bevis Marks, the first synagogue built after repatriation, was constructed in 1657 in the Sephardi style of the Great Synagogue in Amsterdam. It remains the oldest operating synagogue in England. Famous congregants have included Sir Moses Montefiore, Benjamin Disraeli's father, and Daniel Mendoza, England's boxing champion from 1792-1795.
I had the opportunity to visit the synagogue as part of a London Walks tour, named A Shtetl Called Whitechapel, that winds its way through the streets of the East End, the old stomping grounds of the waves of Jewish immigrants who took refuge in Britain in the 19th century. The curator, Maurice, took the group inside, sat us down in the pews and regaled us with a history of the synagogue, its architecture and its place in modern-day Jewish life. He told us that the Canary Wharf area, where the synagogue is located, had undergone major gentrification as it became the new financial hub of London and that young Jewish families were now moving there in large numbers to be closer to their jobs. He noted that the Kol Nidre service, held by candlelight, was sold out and that the synagogue was having trouble trying to accommodate all the brides who wanted their candlelit weddings in the sanctuary. The synagogue complex also houses an upscale glatt kosher restaurant.
As we left the synagogue, we walked towards Petticoat Lane, originally a place where the Jewish shmatte dealers plied their trade. Today, Asian immigrants carry on that tradition. Down the street is a mosque that originally was a church and then a synagogue, reflecting the changing demographics of the area. We passed the old Spitalfields market and saw houses with shadows of mezuzot still on the doors. It is in this area that Jack the Ripper carried out his brutal killings of young prostitutes from 1888-1891. Twenty thousand Jews had come from eastern Europe to live here between 1880 and 1886. The killer was never found but, at one time, it was thought that he was a Jewish ritual butcher due to the precision cuts on, and evisceration of, the victims. Jewish suspects included butcher Jacob Levy, shoemaker John Pizer, Aaron Kosminski, a hairdresser who displayed an extreme hatred of women, and David Cohen, a resident of an insane asylum. One piece of damning evidence relating to the community was writing, etched on a brick wall near the body of the fifth victim, "The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing." The then-acting Scotland Yard commissioner ordered the writing erased based on his desire to prevent riots against, and random targeting of, Jews in Whitechapel. The murders remain one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of all time. (There is also a dedicated late-night Jack the Ripper Walk that visits all five of the murder sites.) The Jewish tour ended near a bronze sculpture commemorating the Kindertransport, a British prewar operation that saved 10,000 European Jewish children from the Nazis. All in all, an interesting walk and well worth the seven pound price.
Of course, no trip to London would be complete without visiting the public museums and art galleries, with free admission to all. My first stop was the Imperial War Museum, a must see on a "things to do" in London list. It houses a two-floor Holocaust exhibit. When I arrived there were hundreds of people walking through the exhibit and, yet, you could hear a pin drop, as people spoke in whispers. It was almost as if the solemnity of the occasion demanded a sense of propriety and respect. The displays are both chilling and moving. One of the most poignant is the miniature model depicting the selection of 2,000 Hungarian Jews from the Berehevo ghetto as they arrived at Auschwitz in June of 1944. Behind the display are glass cases filled with shoes, combs, mirrors, hairpins and razors (all those simple things that we take for granted and that define us as human beings). The thought that all of these items belonged to people who had perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Treblinka sent shivers down my spine. There are photographs of victims all around the room and I was choked with emotion and physically and spiritually drained when I left the exhibition hall. In the mezzanine, there was a sub-exhibit of Holocaust art, paintings created by prisoners during, what can only be described as, the darkest hours of civilization. Surprisingly, many of those paintings are alive with color and hope.
Yom Kippur fell in the middle of my trip. Prior to leaving Vancouver, I had arranged to go to Central Synagogue on Great Portland Street for services. That synagogue is located in the heart of the West End of London just off Oxford Street, and also has an interesting history. When Queen Victoria came to power and Jews moved up the socioeconomic ladder, they began to leave the East End and migrate towards the West End, Westminster and Hyde Park. In 1868, the synagogue was built to service this community. On May 10, 1941, it was destroyed by German bombers during the Blitz and was rebuilt with money from many benefactors, including the Rothschild family. The synagogue was rededicated in 1948.
Despite the heavy security, I was made to feel very welcome in the traditional Orthodox synagogue with its separate seating. The synagogue was full on Kol Nidre. During the Amidah, all of a sudden I heard a loud cry and looked up to see a prayer book tumbling through the air from the balcony to the left of me, where a woman had been leaning against the railing. I watched as the book fell slowly through space and then landed on the head of an older gentleman praying in a pew underneath. He fell over. The service stopped as people rushed over to assist. I admit, my first thought was, "What did this man do that caused G-d, on Kol Nidre, to allow a book to fall literally out of the sky and hit him on the head?" I mean, you have to wonder about the karma of it all! My second thought, as a lawyer, was who would be responsible and whether or not the synagogue was negligent. An ambulance soon arrived on the scene and the man was treated and taken away. In traditional "stiff, upper-lip English style," the service continued.
After services on Yom Kippur afternoon, I walked back to the Holocaust exhibit at the Imperial War Museum. I felt that it was fitting for me, on the Day of Atonement, as a Jew and the daughter of a survivor of the Auschwitz and Mauthhausen concentration camps, to walk through the displays, pause for a moment of silence in front of the photographs of the victims and say Kaddish, perhaps one of the only Kaddishes ever said over those people. It was my personal Yizkor service and one of the most moving experiences of my life.
Continuing on my cultural trek, I found two little museums off the beaten track during a London Walk titled Legal London. In Lincoln's Inn Fields stands the John Soane Museum, a combination of three Georgian mansions put together by architect Soane in the 1800s, and left to a state trust, housing one of the biggest and most comprehensive private collections of art and artifacts from around the world.
In one of the original William Hogarth "Election Series" paintings (1700s) on display, one can see an effigy of a man hanging outside a window with a sign around his neck stating, "No Jews." This depiction is a bit disconcerting when one remembers that Jews had been officially back in England for 100 years by that time.
Across the park from Soane House is the Royal College of Surgeons of England's John Hunter Museum, where one can walk through rooms housing more than 10,000 preparations of different plant and animal species that were collected by the good doctor, known as the founder of "scientific surgery," in the 1700s. While there is not any specific Jewish content here, no Jewish doctor should miss the opportunity to browse through this museum.
There is a Jewish Museum of London, but it has been closed for two years for renovations and is scheduled to reopen in 2010.
From a culinary perspective, there are some great kosher nosheries: Reubens, at 79 Baker St. (a hop, skip and a jump away from that famous Sherlock Holmes address, 221B Baker St.), has a nice selection of traditional Jewish deli-fare with what some have characterized as the best corned beef in London; Olive, in the Golders Green/Finchley area of northwest London, presents unique kosher Persian cuisine with "to die for" kebabs; and Daniel's Bagel Bakery, in the same neighborhood, has scrumptious fresh bagels all day long (and yes, there is a Solly's in London as well). Of course, to "wet your Yiddische whistle," a visit to an English pub for a pint is a must. The pubs all have cheeky names like "The Cock and Bull," "The Pig and Fiddle," "Dirty Dick's," "The Cork and Glass" and "The Jerusalem Tavern," all with the appropriate thematic decor.
A Billy Elliott matinée, a ride on the Millennium Wheel for a bird's-eye view of London, a boat ride down the Thames and visits to Windsor (the Queen's residence), Blenheim (Winston Churchill's birthplace) and Leeds Castles provided the standard London tourist-fare – but it was my journey through Jewish London that I found to be the most memorable.
Tova Kornfeld is a local writer and lawyer.
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